module specification

This module encourages a critical examination of key debates concerning feminist theory, research and practice in education.  It provides students with an awareness of the complex social contexts in which gender relations are formed, legitimized and changing.  Importantly, its approach will be to explore how gender intersects with other identities such as race and social class in shaping educational experiences and outcomes and seeks to illuminate a range of associated social inequalities. The module will examine research methods, policy formation and practice in relation to its theoretical orientation and commitments.

The module aims:

• To enable students to apply theory to interpret research data and contexts
• To explore the impact of gendered- and hetero-normativities in education institutions and practices
• To highlight the historicity of gender within educational discourse and practice
• To examine the relationship between educational and social structures with reference to gender
• To explore  methodological approaches to researching gender and social transformation across all sectors, including Higher Education
• To introduce and reinforce the importance of educational research and autobiography in exploring the construction of gender and gendered relations within education
• To develop skills in a range of methods for gathering, analysing and interpreting data for research studies.

The module will encourage academic debate around gender and gender theory and education as hallmarks of urban education and its theorisation; these debates will emanate from and be stimulated by empirical encounter.  It will draw upon formal areas of gender studies, feminist theory, sociology, gender philosophy, educational academic research and cultural studies and the theorisation, metaphors and methodologies of enquiry they contribute to interpretation and understanding of gender in education.

Delivery is through a combination of lectures and seminars, guided independent reading and engagement with online discussion opportunities (via a Weblearn blog).  Selected key readings will be available to students via Weblearn and students are expected to read in advance of classroom sessions, and to regularly reflect on their reading and seminar discussions via the Weblearn blog.

At the end of the module, students will be able to:

• Analyse and locate historical and current educational issues in relation to wider debates in gender studies
• Demonstrate their understanding of social constructionism and its contribution to critical theories of education
• Understand the importance of educational research and ethnographic methods to explore gender relations and issues of inequality within educational contexts and professional practice
• Interpret the complexity of gender relations within multi- and inter-disciplinary educational and professional contexts

1. The first is an individual presentation (10 minutes) (LO 1, 2, 3) – 30%.
2. An essay which encourages students to use some of their collected data (ethnographic interview) and critically consider debates or issues around gender in a specific professional realm by applying relevant theories (LO 3,4,5) – 70%.

Adams, Rachel and D Savran (eds) (2002) The Masculinity Studies Reader, Blackwell
Arnot, M., and Mac an Ghaill, M. (2007). Gender and Education, Oxon: Routledge.
Baker, J. (2010) Great Expectations and Post Feminist Accountability: Young Women Living Up to the ‘Successful Girls’ Discourse, Gender and Education, (22) 1, pp. 1-15.
Bourdieu, P. (2007). Masculine Domination, R. Nice, translator, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Brah, A. and Phoenix. A., (2004) ‘Ain’t I a Woman? Revisiting Intersectionality, Journal of International Women’s Studies, 5 (3)
Butler, J. (2004). Undoing Gender, New York and Oxfordshire: Routledge.
Butler, J. (2006) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge.
Connell, R. W. (2012). Masculinities Cambridge: Polity Press.
Epstein, D., and Johnson, R. (1998). Schooling and Sexualities, Buckingham: Open University Press.
Ferguson, Susan J. (ed.) (2013) Race, gender, sexuality, and social class: dimensions of inequality (Los Angeles: SAGE Publications).
Francis, B., Skelton, C., and Read, B. (2012). The Identities and Practices of High Achieving Pupils: Negotiating Achievement and Peer Cultures, London and New York: Continuum.
Hall, S., and du Gay, P. (2010). "Questions of Cultural Identity", S. Hall and P. du Gay, (eds.). City: Sage Publications Ltd: London.
Haywood, C. and Mac an Ghaill, M. (2012) What’s Next for Masculinity? Reflexive Directions for Theory and Research on Masculinity and Education, Gender and Education, (24), 5, pp. 577-592.
Hills, L. and Croston, A. (2012) ‘It Should be Better all Together’: Exploring Strategies for Undoing Gender in Coeducational Physical Education, Sport, Education and Society, (17), 5, pp. 591-605.
Hines, Sally (2007) ‘(Trans) Forming Gender: Social Change and Transgender Citizenship’, Sociological Research Online, vol.12, issue 1.
Jackson, S and S Scott (2002) Gender: A Sociological Reader, Routledge
Kelan, Elisabeth (2009) Performing Gender at Work, Palgrave
Lawler, S. (2010). Identity Sociological Perspectives, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Leathwood, C., and Read, B. (2009). Gender and the Changing Face of Higher Education - A Feminized Future?, Berkshire: McGraw-Hill.
Lewis, Jane (2009) Work-Family Balance, Gender and Policy, Edward Elgar
Mac an Ghaill, M, and Haywood, C. (2011) Schooling, Masculinity and Class Analysis Towards an Aesthetic of Subjectivities.
Mendick, H. (2006) Masculinities in Mathematics. Maidenhead: open University Press.
Mirza, H. S. (2009). Race, Gender and Educational Desire: Why Black Women Succeed and Fail, Oxon: Routledge.
Paechter, C. (2006) Masculine Femininities/Feminine Masculinities: Power, Identities, and Gender, Gender and Education, (18), 3, pp. 253-263
Ringrose, J. (2007) Successful Girls? Complicating PostFeminist, neoliberal Discourses of Educational Achievement and Gender Equality, Gender and Education, (19), 4, pp. 471-489.
Taylor, Yvette, Sally Hines and Mark E. Casey (eds) (2011) Theorizing Intersectionality and Sexuality, Palgrave
Walkerdine, V., Lucey, H., and Melody, J. (2001). Growing Up Girl: Psychosocial Explorations of Gender and Class, Hampshire: Palgrave.
Walkerdine, V. (2010) Reclassifying Upward Mobility: Femininity and the Neo-Liberal Subject, Gender Education, (15), 3, pp. 237-248.
Weeks, Jeffrey (2009) Sexuality, Routledge
Wetherell, M., and Mohanty, T., Chandra. (2010), The Sage Handbook of Identities, City: Sage Publications Ltd: London, pp. 540.